United cover

United

Released

Virtuoso trumpeter Woody Shaw made five albums for Columbia Records, each one a statement. On this farewell to the label, that statement is, “Roll the tapes and let’s go.” The band — a quintet with Steve Turre’s trombone joining the leader on the front line, and Gary Bartz guesting on alto sax on two tracks — recorded at three separate sessions in March 1981, but the music has the feel of a single day spent in the studio, in the old-school Blue Note manner. They rip through a couple of Shaw originals, a piece by Wayne Shorter, one by pianist Mulgrew Miller, a standard and a blues. Their version of “What Is This Thing Called Love” is basically a tribute to the Clifford Brown/Max Roach Quintet’s version from 1956, with all the trumpet pyrotechnics that implies.

Phil Freeman

Recommended by

Suggestions
For Olim cover

For Olim

Cecil Taylor
Virgin Beauty cover

Virgin Beauty

Ornette Coleman & Prime Time
Heritage Of The Invisible II cover

Heritage Of The Invisible II

Aquiles Navarro, Tcheser Holmes
Ontology of Nought cover

Ontology of Nought

Ingurgitating Oblivion
Inner Urge cover

Inner Urge

Joe Henderson
Mutima cover

Mutima

Cecil McBee
Tabula Rasa cover

Tabula Rasa

Einstürzende Neubauten
Crumbling Brain cover

Crumbling Brain

Full Blast, Peter Brötzmann
Vade Mecum cover

Vade Mecum

Bill Dixon